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rvWarn GarField 



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ts o\ ^e\nsatlon ar\^ event. 



"Bv Jolm Savary- 



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Hn ^l(moi-i)im. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



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VlRESqUE ADC^IRIT EUNDO. 







COPYRIGHT: 
:JOHN SAVARY. 

1881. 



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SONNETS OK SENSATION AND EVENT 



BY JOHN SAVflRY. 

I. (iKADiA I KD. — Williams ('ollci^e, 1856. 
11. I.AIKKA I'Ei). — Chickamauga, September 20, iS6^. 

III. Xo.MiNATK.D. — Chicago, June 8, 1880. 

IV. Ki.ECTEU. — November 2, 1880. 

V. Fki.HITATEI). — November 4, 18S0. 
VI. lN.vu(;uR.vrED. — March 4, 1881. 
\'II. Ass.vssiNATED. — July 2, 1881. 
VIII. Compassionated. 

IX. RkCUI'ERATEI). 

X. Relapsed. 
XI. Recovered. 

XII. CoNGR.\TUL.VrED. 

After the Tr.\gedy of July 2d. 






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Grabnnlcb. 



When you recall the faces you have met 
At school or college, be it royal George, 
Or James, or Charles who is remembered, storge. 

Or something like it in your bosom yet 

Stirs for a moment as the mind is set. 

You struck good blows in earnest at the forge 
Of learning stationed in that mountain gorge 

Spanned by the rainbow of a mild regret ! 

I saw you then a great, good-natured boy. 

But scarcely dreamed of empire in your brain. 
Yet you bear rule, and dignities, a train ; 

And Alma Mater with exceeding joy 

Was there to greet you — but the horror drops 
A day of mourning on her mountain tops. 







II. 



Iniircntcb. 



Bafi'ised in spirit, and also in fire, 

Must that man be, a leader of the flock, 

Born for affairs, and come of noble stock, 
Innately noble like your great grandsire 
At Concord Bridge, who helped the foe retire. 

Sprung from such loins, of course, you stood the 
shock 

Of battle firm as (lhi( kamauga's Rock, ^ 
And heard God speak out of the whirlwind nigher 
" DuLCE ET DEfORUM," — you learned how great 

The idea of country, and the laureled meed. 
And there, I think, you got your doctorate, 

Your letters patent, worth's true title-deed. 
With war's red seal upon't, and stamped by fate : 

Ah, of what glorious fruit was this the seed I 







III. 



l]uminalcb. 



Superior virtue goes among the crowd 

Unseen at all times, but yet not unknown ; 

For in a thousand ways is virtue shown. 
With vital force and energy endowed, 
It draws all hearts and minds, as draws the cloud 

From earth to hea\cn the bosomed lightnings 
flown. 

Till by some Power to full effulgence blown, 
The godlike man steps from his golden shroud. 
From depths of poverty and prenatal gloom 

The hero comes to providential view. 

The shouting thousands at Chicago knew 
Garfield^ was for-the-field, and when the '• boom 

Started, all went — the eagle* flew, and he 

Perched on his pole like winged Victory. 







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T-V. 



Ix c<|ual strength arrayed, when two great powers 
On battle eve give challenge and reply, 
With name for name appealed unto the sky. 

Victorious counted by the telling Hours, 

Which shall be foremost in this land of ours ? 
Answer, O People, with decisive cry 
To Chance, the game's up 1 cease to spin the die 

Doubtful, dispelling the dark cloud that lowers ! 

The torch lights pale, but yet the welkin rings 
Far round the hills, and to the distant coasts. 

A tower of strength is Garfield's name which brings 

The thunder of the shoutings of the hosts. 
But now the banners of the chiefs advance, 
God send the country safe deliverance ! 







AT. 



itilitbh. 



When to the summit thou shalt come elect 
By strenuous toil, and by the golden dower 
Of hearts and hopes to blossom in an hour 

Of happy fortune, standing there erect 

Before the altar sworn with due respect 

To consecrate your life's best fruit and flower. 
Remember that the top of human power 

In prospect green, is bald in retrospect. 

And therefore think that when these sugar-hearts 
That lick thee now, shall melt and fall away, 
Unless thou bear a touchstone in thy mind. 

Thou shalt become a prey to subtile arts. 

And find not friends, but flatterers who betray 
Thy soul to bondage, like a Samson blind. 







^^x. 



Inaujtirfili^h. 



Why doth the sun with so presagetul glare 

This wild march weather, as in sorrow drowned, 
Look i)ale with grief to see your wishes crowned ? 

I draw this omen from the cloudy chair 

Of Phcebus borne to a serener air : 

The course of your administration sound, 
Stormy at first, shall in the end be found 

Like * Freia's day, the golden, prosperous fair. 

It is the season of good wishes now ; 

Then welcome in the name of all the people ! 

The while they bind this laurel on your brow, 
The cannon speaks, and joy-bells rock the steeple. 

Your sails are set ; and fair before the wind, 

Your course is clear, the future undefined. 







wxx. 



J[$$as$inalri:t. 



Was it tor this, dear friend, that you had won 
By toilsome steps your way to place and power? 
For this you climbed above the clouds that lower 

With lurid tempest in the rising sun 

Of lawful sway, and wide dominion ? 

And when you stood at the consummate flower 
Of all your greatness, in an evil hour. 

The shot was fired, the awful deed was done ! 

Esteem thou hadst before, O steadfast soul, 
But now thou hast thy i)eople's love in fee. 

Cold love is kindled to a burning coal 
In living heat of loyalty to ihee. 

And if the People's prayer to Ood on high 

Can aught avail, dear friend, you shall not die. 




--f^:^ 




■BS);i:^/'^ 



^TIII. 



Gamjiiissiounlijh, 



O, what a week of fluctuant li()j)es and fears ! 
A week, indeed, of " onsets of despair ! " 
A Nation bowed stands in the wailing air 

Of windy sighs thick blown with rainy tears, 

Rumor, and prophecy on tlic lips of seers. 
His guardian angel with a brow of care, 
And breasts of sorrow leaning o'er him there 

Gathers, like Winkelried, death's sheaf of spears ! 

Hush ! he has fallen into slumber deep. 

Yet his lips move like a dark mountain stream 
Where his mind wanders in the world of dream 

That babbles softly out of childhood's sleep. 
" We are such stuff as dreams are made of," said 
The sick man when lie woke refreshed in bed. 




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1^0cujiyji^h. 



How hard, in health, to be struck down and lie 
All weary days and nights on bed of pain ! 
Harder for him of the large, active brain, 
And social nature ; yet, with cjuiet eye 
Turned on the pleasant landscape and the sky. 
He hath medicinal aid, and not in vain, 
From singing leaves and ])lash of silver rain, 
Soothed by low winds and waters' lullaby. 
Around his bed good angels watch and wait. 
And many a king and many a potentate 
Sends kindly message from beyond the sea. 
And his own People will not let him be 
Out of their arms of love, O God ! how deep — 
The l)lood-red popp\' of the world of sleep ! 







ix:. 



ylnp$0h. 



When to the orb of glory and of light 

Comes on the dark, and touches with its lips 
The body of brightness dimming as it dips 

Behind the planet's artificial night, 

Tlie boding world in wonder at the sight, 
Watches the shadow as it moves and sli])s 
Over the land and sea and sailing ships, 

In mute misgiving of each moment's flight. 

So strange to our perplexed intelligence. 
Appeared at zenith-point to fade and fail 
The light of that recovered star through veil 

Of anxious hope and fear in dim suspense I 

We saw his orb from which the dark wave slips. 
Notched in gray shadow of the great eclipse. 







2^1. 



"^rrciucrrb. 



Easy and gradual are the steps that lead 

Downward to death and steep Tartarean night : 
But winning upward to the realms of light. 

Is toilsome, hard, and difificult indeed. 

Well knows he this, who, versed in Virgil's rede, 
Towards recovery sets his staff aright, 
And gathering strength^ goes on to make the fight, 

Like gaining tides that inch by inch succeed I 

O lofty hope and energy of will ! 

O living spirit of the lord of breath ! 
Hark to the People's million-throated roll 

Of thunderous welcome to their hero ill 

Who " takes the chance," and giving odds to Death, 
Beats the lean fellow racing to the goal I 









-'S'-?S' 



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xiii. 



ConiV'iilnliilrb. 



How manv and how great concerns of state 
Lie at the mercv of the meanest things 1 
This man the ])eer of jtresidents and kings, 

Xav, first among them, ])assed through (hmger's gate 

In war unscathed, and perils out of date. 
To meet a fool whose pistol-shot yet rings 
Around the world, and at mere greatness flings 

The cruel sneer of destiny or fate I 

Yet hath he made the fool fanatic foil 
'J'o valor, ])atience, nobleness, and wit I 
Nor had the world known but because of it 

What virtues grow in suffering's sacred soil. 
The shot which opened like a crack of hell, 
Made all hearts stream with sacred pity's well. 

And showed that unitv in which we dwell. 







^flfr ll^r 5r;ir\rhrf of 1^iili{ 2h. 



KxdiKMKx [■ ? no: l)ul absolute surprise: 
Astonishment that struck through all a hush 

Of grim ex])ectan(v whose shadow lies 

On men like standing wood before the rush 

Of roaring rain, with coming darkness, all 
Suddenly upon the people a great calm 

Of perfect horror settled like a pall. 

Such calms precede a tempest, and forebode 

The lightning's flash and the deep thunder's roll. 
And had there been a demagogue to goad 

The waiting populace, the dark-rising soul 
Of ignorant " thunderheads " heaved n\) for warm 

Vengeance at bloody work — he might have shook 
From turret to foundation stone the form 

Of stable government ; — but there was no storm. 






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"i. 




TJolcs, 



' A sobii<|uet for •' Old l'a|) Tlnmias." 

' The Rev. E. N. Mauley, a classmate of General Garfield 
wrote, " I think it was at the breaking-up meeting of the class, 
at graduation, that being called up for a speech, he said " ;///) 
is a greek particle meaning /'a/-. Gar-field, fnr-the-ficid, thai 
is what I Nupposc 1 am." 

■^ It was reported in the i)a|)ers at the time, and generallv 
believed, that an eagle alighted on the ridge-pole of (General 
(jarfield's house in Washington, just about the time his nomnia- 
tion was made known. 

■• krida)-, or Freia"s da\-, is from l-'reyja, the Northern X'eiuis. 
■'See motto on title page. 




This hroclune, all but the clusf, \\a> in print suinc weeks 
ago, and while there was yet a tinu hope of the i're>iilent's 
recovery. But "man proposes, Cdd disposes." Hence, to 
those sonnets written in the light of hope, and init forth on the 
assurance of recovery, are added these of eomnienioration, 
written under the cypress, and closing with the inevitable N'ai.I';. 

Sei'Tkmki-'.i^ 20, 1S81. 





Jnmriilrb. 



To all the earth which hears with hulden breath, 
What endless sorrow in a word can tlwell I 
The human heart ingathering as a shell 

The murmured news in mournful whisjier saith, 

This is the end, yea, verily, this is death. 
There is no time his virtues here to tell. 
But only time to sob a brief farewell, 

And leave him in the Hand that welcometh. 

We loved him, we Americans, because 
He was of us a genuine man of men ; 

The strong protagonist of equal laws, 

And more than once our standard-bearer when 

The country's ark was covered with a cloud 

Which turns to glory now to make his shroud. 






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Qoiiimrmciraltb. 



liiiild him no inoiuiinent of lastiiiL; date, 
Knduring brass or marble, but record 
That when he passed from earth to his reward, 

His i)eoi)le still the bread of sorrow ate, 

And all the land in tears was desolate ! 

How the red hand of murder most abhorred 
Wrote large his name and \irliies in the Lord. 

Sublime in sufferance, and serenely great ! 

He o'er himself was natural priest and king. 
A royal soul which budded on the stem 
Of simple manhood wore the diadem 

Of love and reverence due — no other thing. 

His large good nature, love, and life and health. 
AVill nerish never from the commonwealth. 





(©' 




Tnff. 



Fallen is the first and chief: 
Oh ! but our hearts are full of g;rief. 
Bowed in silence, stand and wait 
Where he lies in lofty state. 
Who hath any words to say? 
Grief is eloquent to-day. 
On the door-knol) put no crape, 
But your hearts in mourning drape. 
Death lifts uj) the portal l)ar, 
Drooi) the flag and dress the car. 
Slowly move in sad array, 
Bring him on his last long way. 
The veiled cities see him pass, 
Bow their heads and cry alas ! 
Useless, useless, toll no bell, 
He is better — in fact, well. 
Healed of all his hurts and scars. 
Honorably discharged from wars. 
He is sleeping, can't you see? 
Wake him not ! Oh, let him be 





Like a tired i liiki i^nnv to rest. 

Slecpiiii,^ on his mother's breast. 

His j)art is played, his life is done. 

His fight is foui,dit, and rest is won. 

States and cities leave to show, 

All the ])ai(eantries of woe. 

As the Nation's honored <hief, 

Bury him with jjublic grief. 

Ah, but there is grief more deep, 

There are wounds no balm can steep 

(Can one wretched life atone 

For this wrong to Nature done?) 

Words that ( ut like a sharp knife, 

Farewell, mother; farewell, wife.' 

Frozen tears give no relief, 

Vou shall live in marble grief. 

In our annals, such another 

Son and husband, wife, and mother 

Grouped together, time ne'er saw ; 

And the world that looks with awe 

On you looking up to (iod, 

Kneeling there upon the soil, 

Hears a voice from Hea\en 

"Enter, my beloved son. 

Be at peace, and shine afar, 

• And I will give him the Morning Star. ' 




'well done ;" 



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